Swedish Academy, Which Awards Nobel In Literature, Elects Iranian-Born Poet As Member

The Swedish Academy on October 5 announced it had elected an Iranian-born poet and a Swedish judge as new members in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that forced it to postpone awarding a Nobel prize in literature this year.

The prize could not be awarded because eight of the academy's 18 members had either resigned or were on hiatus due to a deep rift within the academy over how to manage its longstanding ties to a Frenchman recently convicted of rape.

For the first time in 70 years, it postponed this year's literature prize by a year to give it time to address the issue.

The election of Jila Mossaed, 70, a Tehran-born poet and novelist who writes in Swedish and Persian, along with Swedish Supreme Court judge Eric Runesson, brings the academy's active members to a quorum of 12.

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